Recent reviews by Salzian

Feels like a true sequel. All assets are much prettier, the road system has improved (though still not fully customizable), and everything feels a bit more realistic (e.g., car acceleration, train speeds), which I personally like.

Performance is a problem if you want to run at a resolution higher than Full HD. However, they've exposed so many graphics options (click "Advanced") that you can easily optimize each and every effect to achieve a playable experience (30-60 fps). In my experience, global illumination is obviously the biggest burden.

The gaming industry is broken, and games are often released in a broken state... but hey, we're all the same sheep who buy into this system, time and time again.

ROCK AND STONE!

Einfach nein...

I know I shouldn't consider this game as a game. It's more of a simulation program.

But when I sit down after work, I would like to relax a bit and play or do something. However, the nature of this game just doesn't allow me to understand what I'm doing and wether or not I'm doing a good job or not.

You start out with an absurd amount of money. Which I guess makes sense, considering you are supposed to build a rail network. Then you take half an hour, trying to build your first train line. Have to go back and forth to validate if all the bezier curves are somewhat decent. Then you build the blueprint, create a line and place some trains...

Now what?

Am I supposed to wait several in-game hours, days, weeks? What metrics are important? I can see people entering and leaving the trains and some money is being generated. But did I do a good job? Should I proceed building the next line? There is basically no feedback loop. No motivation. Why should I come back tromorrow and play the game again? Can I measure my success? Does it even matter? I have so much money anyway? Should I just continue building? What if I lose sense of how much money I'm spending? After all, we are talking millions of euros / dollars. What does that even mean? I'm not handling these sums of money on a daily basis.

I really tried giving this game / simulator / program a chance but there's just nothing to do for me.

If you want to buy this game, watch some videos first. This game is only for a very special kind of nerd.

I didn't enjoy "Orwell: Ignorance is Strength" as much as its prequel. The game feels much more linear and has only half the amount of content of the original. Almost as if this game should have been the first one, and "Orwell" should be the sequel.

The story is not as engaging as in the first game, and the clues to progress feel random and insignificant. The new feature "influencer" is only used during the last act and consists of only three mostly guided plot points, which feels like a missed opportunity to add more depth to the gameplay. The time mechanic adds unnecessary pressure and sometimes feels like a chore rather than a fun gameplay element.

The ending is abrupt, unexpected, and unsatisfying. I felt like I did something wrong and discovered an early ending, but when I looked it up online, I realized that there wasn't much more to it. The side plot is the same as in the first game, so there isn't much new to discover.

Overall, "Orwell: Ignorance is Strength" falls short of its predecessor and lacks the same level of engagement and intrigue. Instead, I suggest buying the first game and enjoying it as a closed experience.

Save your money and skip this one.

RailRoute is an excellent railway management game that I've been really enjoying. The game's visual style is great, with a good balance between style and minimalism that keeps the focus on the gameplay. It's easy to build your own railway network and manage it efficiently.

One aspect of RailRoute that I appreciate is how well-made it is. I haven't encountered any bugs or glitches yet, and everything seems to work as intended. There are some things I wish the game had, like being able to adjust the map size in the editor after initial creation or shunting (there are rumors this is a planned feature??). But the game is still in early access and actively being developed with the help of the community (Discord and feedback website). So I guess some things will still change.

One thing to note, however, is that the German translation is too technical for a casual game, in my opinion. This can be a bit of a drawback if you're not familiar with the technical terms used in railway management. However, the English version is great and easy to understand.

Overall, I think RailRoute is a fantastic choice for anyone who loves railway management games. In fact, there aren't many good railway management games out there, which makes RailRoute a rare gem in this genre. It's easy to pick up and play, especially with the recently added “story” mode (it's more of a prolonged tutorial, I guess). There's enough depth and complexity to keep you engaged for hours on end (if you are a nerd like me). If you're looking for a well-made and engaging railway management game, I highly recommend giving RailRoute a try.

Game is too hard. Followed all the steps from the tutorial and got obliderated in my fist mission, Eventhough I disabled everything that could emit noise.

Very relaxing atmosphere! I come back to this game every now and then for that.

Bad performance even with recommended hardware. On low preset, 40 fps with many dips into the low 20s eventhough the game looks like Fallout 4 at that point.

Give it another half year in the oven, it's still raw.

I can't add anything that hasn't already been said in other negative reviews.

So in a nutshell:

Pros:
+ Good vehicle models

Cons:
- Too expensive for what tha game offers at them moment (considering the game was funded by two crowdfunds with a total of $60.000 + sales to this date)
- Extremely bad performance (even on a good system)
- Bad Graphics (you need to set the graphics to low to play the game in an acceptable framerate)
- Slow to no development progress over the last two years
- Questionable development roadmap (adding new vehicles instead of fixing bugs)
- Everything except driving around is higly gliched and game breaking
- Ugly player models
- Multiplayer is near to unplayable
- Shady business practices, bad reputation and lot of bad rumours foating around in the community (VIP beta programs, closed "5th batallion" roleplay group with priority development branch)


Just don't buy it. Don't give them a reason to carry on with this scheme. The only way this game will ever see the light of day as a reasonably playable game would be if the dev team would halt development and reconsider their roadmap and address all the current issues with the game before moving on.

Back to the drawing board, please!